Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

WOW…it has been a long couple of days. But I did it! I pulled Thanksgiving off!!! After a week of menu planning and 2 days of cooking, I can honestly say…I am exhausted lol. If i never have to look at a kitchen again it will be too soon. And yes, I am aware that I run a food blog and that will be potentially problematic…but I am sure I will change my mind tomorrow.

If you are anything like me, you hate wasting food. Especially leftovers. And yikes are there a lot of leftovers with Thanksgiving.

One of the hardest things I find to use up after Thanksgiving is the leftover meat. Whether it is turkey or ham (yes, I cooked both this year…now do you understand why I am sick of my kitchen?!?!) trying to figure out what to do with it always poses a challenge. Also, I know we all love Thanksgiving food…but after eating plain old Thanksgiving leftovers don’t we all get a little sick of it after a while? I feel ya.

So when using up my Thanksgiving leftovers, I try to put them in non-Thanksgiving dishes. It provides a little variety, which makes it more likely they will get eaten!

This year I opted to make turkey chili. For one reason, because it is easy. I just dumped a bunch of stuff in the slow cooker and went back to watching movies on the couch. Another reason I made chili is that I knew it would freeze well. Which is a bonus when you are trying to eat your way through an entire fridge of leftovers. Can you tell this stresses me out? I mean how am I going to eat ll this stuff?!?!

Okay, back to the chili.

It turned out to be exactly what I wanted. The leftover turkey worked perfectly. The chili powder and cayenne gave it just the right amount of heat without being overpowering. It was warm and satisfying and exactly what I wanted on this cold day. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Local Ingredient: Turkey (purchased a fresh turkey from a local turkey farm)